We are two brothers who embarked on a project to build our dream as a tribute to our father who passed away in March 2010. We will be posting our progress and hope you enjoy reading as our build takes shape.

We had previously connected up the dash and wiring looms as well as mechanical gauge connections, water temperature, oil pressure, oil temperature. These all run directly from the gauges through the bulkhead onto the engine.

We also had to consider where to run the battery feed cables. As battery shelf is located on the near side of in the engine bay between the foot well and front wheel arch, we drilled a hole through the bulkhead behind the wiper motor unit and fed the battery cables through to connect onto the starter.

We added some fuel to the tank and we were now, in theory at least, ready to start up. Mark tried and turned the key but realised that something wasn’t quiet right as the engine started but cut out straight away. Knowing that we had fuel pressure, Mark rechecked the wiring to the coil and ballast resistor finding the positive feed to the coil was being pulled down to ground by the wire from the starter. This then killed the coil and the spark. Upon rechecking the wiring on the starter Mark realised the wire for the coil was connected to the incorrect terminal on the starter for the ballest resistor bypass.

Once this was rectified, the engine started perfectly. We haven’t got any exhaust fitted at the moment so I think we got the attention of most of the neighbourhood. What a noise!

Things haven’t moved on as quickly as we had hoped over the last year or so, but we both knew that we weren’t too far away from a big milestone on the build of actually turning that key and getting it started up. We spent a day back in August getting the wiring loom sorted and connected up but with the wiper unit not being finally installed, this had prevented us getting the wiring loom fully connected up and the dash in.

We had also decided at this point that we weren’t so happy with the older bullet type fuses in the fuse box as these open up and can lose connection when warm. So we decided we would prefer to replace the original fuse box that was part of the wiring harness with a more modern blade type fuse box. We felt this was a good addition at this point as it will be behind the dash and won’t be visible. We also decided to reposition the new fuse box underneath the relays to make them more accessible when the dash is installed.

We spent another day on the build and thought it was time we got on with the wiring. Wiring up the outer components such as the lights, fuel pump, was all quiet straight forward as we had run the front and rear parts of the wiring loom previously. We also created an earth to the chassis which we did underneath the rear axle.

The main challenge is to connect the front and rear parts of the wiring loom to the central part which is eventually located behind the dash and connects to all the gauges and switches on the dash, as well as the fuse box and relays. This can easily become like a mass of spaghetti and a little overwhelming. Fortunately we had spend time previously labelling all the wires and connections separately which made it easier to follow the wiring diagram. We decided to connect up the gauges and switches before bring the dash back into the car.

Next up is the Windscreen wipers. We had already drilled and fitted the wheel boxes (you can read about this post here) but we had to fit the motor and driver cable. Originally we used wooden blocks to temporarily mount the wheel boxes at the correct angle but as part of the motor kit we also sourced rubber spacers that sit underneath the body to replace these wooden blocks which are a much neater solution.

Firstly we assembled the whole motor mechanism running the cable through the bundy tube and wheelboxes. It is important to ensure that the window wiper rack is well greased before it is all assembled. The drive cable that connects the motor to the motor boxes sits inside bundy pipe. The 3 sections of pipe all came as part of the kit and were cut to the correct length with the ends already flared to fit.

The motor is designed to be positioned on the top of the passenger footwell with the driver cable running through the bulkhead and behind the dash. It is important to ensure that the bend in the bundy pipe is sufficient enough to pass through the bulkhead but not severe enough to impact the motion of the cable inside. This means positioning the motor unit at an angle and quiet far underneath the wing. We drilled one hole through the bulkhead for the bundy pipe and gentle bent it to shape before connecting it all up to mark and drill the motor mounting holes in the top of the passenger footwell. It’s virtually impossible to measure everything accurately to find the final position and drill the holes before hand.

While we were looking at installing the wiper box motor, wiper mechanism and wheel boxes, we realised, not for the first time, that we had a problem. We had originally installed the heater box directly to the back of the bulkhead behind the dash using rivets (read the post here). When looking at installing the wiper mechanism, we realised that the position of the heater box didn’t give us any room above it and thus compromised the position of the wiper cable mechanism and bundy tube that houses it. The only solution was to rethink the position of the heater box and reinstall it.

Firstly, we had to roughly mount the dash to work out how much room there would be behind the dash once this is installed together with the wiring loom. As we suspected the space behind the dash is very tight and doesn’t give much room to play and to find the new position for the heater box. After some fiddling and some discussion we thought that moving its position back and down while also tilting the angle slightly forwards would probably work best. Firstly this gave us enough clearance above the heater box for the wiper mechanism but also allowed the angle of lower heater outlets to be aimed more into the cabin rather onto the lower bulkhead. 2 positive outcomes!

In order to install the heater box in this new position we realised that we would have to make 2 new brackets as well as extend the pipes from the back of the heater in order to connect it back up to the heater matrix on the other side of the bulkhead within the engine bay. This took some time to get the angle of the pipes just right to get them to protrude correctly. Once complete we then remounted the heater using rivets to secure the heater and the the new brackets back to the bulkhead.

As we had replaced the old clutch release slave cylinder with the new Hydraulic throw-out release bearing, we decided we would also replace the braided hose that we originally installed to connect the master cylinder to the clutch release with proper brake pipe. We originally mounted a braided hose back in June 2011 when we fitted the brake pipes but we felt that installing a new line using brake line would look must better. The clutch pipe runs parallel with the brake line around the front of the chassis to connect to the new clutch release input line on the near side of the gear box bell housing.—
Mark firstly flared the end of the line connecting to the master cylinder and connected it up before carefully running the new line around the front parallel to the brake lines. We used 5mm P-clips and self tapping screws to secure in place. The final job will be to connect up the new clutch release input line of the new hydraulic bearing using a female AN-4 fitting screw. Unfortunately we didn’t have one to hand so we have ordered one to fit later.—

Once the new bearing was measured and fitted correctly it was then a case of reinstalling the transmission and connecting back to the bell housing.—Important point is always have the AN-4 line with the bleeder valve at the top when the bearing is properly adjusted. The bleeder valve must be at the top position when fitted.—
Getting the transmission back in was a bit of a fiddle, while feeding the lines through the old fork hole opening in the bell housing. It is important to check that these lines do not make contact the spinning clutch and flywheel when the engine is running.——
We were mindful of the fact that we needed to protect these 2 lines so we decided to finish of the job by making a simple plate that would cover the opening in the bell housing where the original clutch fork protruded and have the 2 lines pass through this plate, using 2 grommits to protect them from potential chafing. The bellhousing had 2 holes on the back and side that were close to the opening that would be ideal to bolt into to secure a plate to the outside. Firstly we had to tap a thread into these holes. The holes were different sizes, we put a 10mm bolt on the back side, with a 6mm bolt on the side.

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We then made up a simple cardboard template to shape and marked the 2 places where the 2 securing bolt hole would be. Once confident we had is right we marked it up and cut it out in aluminium sheet. We then bent it to shape using the vice while continually checking the shape against the side of the bellhousing. It took a bit of time to get this right. Once we had is correct we finally marked up and drilled 16 mm holes for the 2 lines to pass through. Although this plate will be mostly out of sight we decided to give it a quick polish as well.—

Before the final fit we decided to use double sided rubber foam on the back side of the plate to create a good seal between the plate and the bellhousing, while also to prevent any unnecessary rattling that may occur.——

We are really happy with the final fit. We think its a really tidy solution. Not only do we believe that using the “Throw out bearing clutch release” will give us a more responsive clutch but we have managed solve the clearance problems we had with the original slave cylinder and the clutch arm.—

In order to fit the new clutch release it meant us taking out the gear box. So we got to it, unbolting the prop shaft, and the 4 front bolts that bolted the gearbox to the bell housing. With the gearbox out we could then go about fitting the new bearing.——

Fitting the McLeod Hydraulic Throw-Out Bearing

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Step1:

You must screw the “Adjusting screw” all the way into the bearing assembly. We then slipped the bearing assembly onto the input shaft collar on the transmission. Be sure the tapered side of the adjusting screw goes on the transmission collar to sit against the base of the collar. The bearing should fit tight.

Step2:

There are two important measurement that need to be taken to make sure the bearing is fitted correctly and has enough clearance.—Dimension A:With the bell housing, flywheel,disc and pressure plate bolted to the engine, measure the distance from the rear surface of the bell housing to the top of the release fingers on the pressure plate.

Dimension B:Measure from the front of the transmission to the front face of the release bearing.

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You then have to subtract “Dimension B” from “Dimension A”. This will give the clearance from the bearing to self adjust. The total allowable clearance should be between 0.100″ and 0.150″. You can adjust the distance by screwing out the bearing until the proper clearance is achieved. One complete turn will provide 0.06″ movement forward. There is also an extra spacer that comes with the kit which you can use if required to make the clearance. We found that using the spacer with one turn of the the bearing gave us a clearance of 0.123″ which was perfect.—

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There was a little problem that we have needed to sort. That was namely the clutch fork. We realised a while ago when we got the body back on that the clutch fork was way too close to the body to allow it to work. It had already been shortened by Gerry when we bought the kit but it was obvious there was not enough space for it to work.—

Word of warning/advise for anyone building a Hawk kit with this clutch specification. Before you get the body back on check the measurements and the space you have for the clutch fork, as modifying it before the body is back on would have been easier in our case.

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We had tried to get at it with a hacksaw to cut it down but after a few attempts we realised this was a pig of a job to get too and wouldn’t be a nice finish even if we did manage to shorten it. We weren’t happy with this clutch release, so Mark decided to go off to do some research about other clutch release methods that might more suitable. Although perhaps not as authentic, we thought that a hydraulic throw back bearing assembly might be a good upgrade which would allow us to ditch the whole clutch slave cylinder and be a much tidier job. We spoke to Real Steel and they suggested a McLeod Slip-On style assembly that would fit our T5 gearbox and clutch.—

So we decided to get on with the build again after several months going by without anything being done.

First job of the day was to fit the windscreen wipers in place.

There are 2 marks in the body moulding where the wipers should be located. The windscreen wiper wheel boxes protrude from underneath the body at a forward angle so firstly we marked them up and drilled a small pilot hole through the body using the angle from the chrome fitting as a guide. We then followed on by drilling a bigger 16mm hole then used a file to carefully get the final shape.

We fitted the wheel boxes underneath the body behind the dash but due to the angle they need to be fitted at we decided to make an extra wedge shaped piece of wood that we hope will give more support. It was simply a case fitting the wheel box, marking the angle and cutting the wood to shape. Then it was easy enough to fit then in place tightening up the bolt on the stork.

The final thing was to fit the wipers and wiper blades. These came from Gerry and look great. We needed to bend the arm a little to get them to fit perfectly with the screen which wasn’t difficult. We put them in the vice and carefully tapped with a rubber hammer until we got them the right shape.

The next job will be to fit the motor and connect them up. More to come on this.